Miles Vorkosigan graduates from the Barrayaran Military Academy with high expectations of ship command, but is disappointed with an assignment as meteorologist to Lazkowski Base, an arctic training camp. His tenure in the windy, snow-covered north is cut short when Miles narrowly averts a massacre between the trigger-happy base commander and mutinous recruits. After a brief stay under 'house arrest', Miles is re-assigned to investigate a suspicious military build-up near a wormhole nexus.

Cetaganda: A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

When the Cetagandan empress dies, Miles Vorkosigan and his cousin Ivan are sent to Cetaganda for her funeral as diplomatic representatives of Barrayar. Upon arrival, the two men are inexplicably attacked by a servant of the late empress. When the same servant turns up dead the next day, Miles and Ivan find themselves in the middle of a mystery.

The Warrior's Apprentice: A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

Miles Vorkosigan makes his debut in this frenetic coming-of-age tale. At age 17, Miles is allowed to take the entrance exams to the elite military academy; he passes the written but manages, through miscalculation in a moment of anger, to break both his legs on the obstacle course, washing out before he begins. His aged grandfather dies in his sleep shortly after, for which Miles blames himself.

Brothers in Arms: A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

Led by Admiral Naismith (a.k.a. Lord Miles Vorkosigan), the Dendarii Mercenaries have pulled off the daring interspace rescue of an entire Cetagandan POW camp. But they have made some deadly enemies, and Miles realizes he's in trouble again. First the Mercenaries' payroll doesn't arrive on time; then someone tries to murder him. Now Miles must juggle both his identities to unravel a plot against him, and to reveal an unexpected ally. Just who is trying to assassinate which of his personas, and why?

Mirror Dance: A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

The dwarfish, fetally damaged yet brilliant Miles Vorkosigan has more than his share of troubles. Having recently escaped an assassination plot whose tool was a brainwashed clone of himself, Miles has set the clone, Mark, free for a new chance at life. But when he decides to let his clone brother assume his secret identity and lead the Dendarii Free Mercenary on an unauthorized mission to liberate other clones from the outlaw planet of Jackson's Whole, things get really messy.

Borders of Infinity: Miles Vorkosigan Series

The popular adventures of Miles Vorkosigan, a clever and outlandish science fiction hero for the modern era, continue in these three tales. In The Mountains of Mourning, Miles is dispatched to a back-country region of Barrayar, where he must act as detective, judge, and executioner in a controversial murder case. In Labyrinth, Miles adopts his alternate persona as Dendarii Mercenary Admiral Naismith for an undercover mission to rescue an important research geneticist from Jackson’s Whole.

Barrayar: A Vorkosigan Adventure

In the wake of interplanetary war, former commander Cordelia Naismith has deserted her own planet to marry the leader of the defeated enemy, Aral Vorkosigan. On his home planet of Barrayar, two rival factions are eyeing the recently vacated throne, and Aral, recently appointed Regent of Barrayar by the Emperor on his deathbed, must stand between them. Lord and Lady Vorkosigan, Aral and Cordelia struggle to establish stability in a fragile government thrown into confusion by the transition of power.

Ethan of Athos

With the future of Athos at stake, Ethan is chosen on behalf of his cloistered fellows for a unique mission: to brave the wider universe in quest of new ovarian tissue cultures to replenish Athos' dwindling stocks. Along the way, he must tangle with covert operatives, killers, telepathy, interplanetary politics, and - perhaps most disturbingly - an indomitable female mercenary named Elli Quinn.

Memory: A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

Dying is easy. Coming back to life is hard. Miles Vorkosigan should know - having done both once already. Thanks to his quick-thinking staff and the artistry of a medical specialist, Miles' first death wasn't his last. But it does take some recovery, a fact he has been reluctant to admit. When he makes the mistake of returning too soon to duty, he finds himself summoned to face the security chief, Simon Illyan. But Miles' worst nightmares about Illyan are nothing compared to Illyan's own nightmares.

Komarr: A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

Komarr could be a garden with 1,000 more years' work, or an uninhabitable wasteland if the terraforming fails. Now, the solar mirror vital to the terraforming of the conquered planet has been shattered by a ship hurtling off course. The emperor of Barrayar sends his newest imperial auditor, Lord Miles Vorkosigan, to find out why.

A Civil Campaign: A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

Lord Miles Vorkosigan has a problem that all his new power can't solve: unrequited love for the beautiful Vor widow Ekaterin Vorsoisson. Ekaterin is violently allergic to marriage as a result of her first exposure. But, as Miles learned from his late career in galactic covert ops, if a frontal assault won't do, go to subterfuge.

Shards of Honor

I>Shards of Honor is the novel in which Lois McMaster Bujold introduced the science-fiction world to Barrayar and Aral Vorkosigan, Beta Colony and Cordelia Naismith. From this beginning the author has created a multigenerational saga spanning time as well as space. Bujold is generally recognized as the current exemplar of the character-based science-fiction adventure story.

Diplomatic Immunity: A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

A rich Komarran merchant fleet has been impounded at Graf Station in distant Quaddiespace after a bloody incident involving the convoy's Barrayaran military escort. But Lord Miles Vorkosigan and his wife, Lady Ekaterin, have other things on their minds, such as getting home in time to attend the long-awaited births of their first children.

Winterfair Gifts: A Vorkosigan Adventure

In the festive season of Winterfair on the planet Barrayar, Lord Miles Vorkosigan is making elaborate preparations for his wedding. The long-awaited event stirs up romance and intrigue among his eccentric family and friends, particularly for bioengineered space mercenary Sergeant Taura and shy, diffident Armsman Roic.

Cryoburn: A Miles Vorkosigan Adventure

Kibou-daini is a planet obsessed with cheating death. Barrayaran Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan can hardly disapprove—he’s been cheating death his whole life, on the theory that turnabout is fair play. But when a Kibou-daini cryocorp—an immortal company whose job it is to shepherd its all-too-mortal frozen patrons into an unknown future—attempts to expand its franchise into the Barrayaran Empire, Emperor Gregor dispatches his top troubleshooter, Miles, to check it out

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance

Captain Ivan Vorpatril is happy with his relatively uneventful bachelor's life as a staff officer to a Barrayaran admiral. Cousin to imperial troubleshooter Miles Vorkosigan, Ivan is not far down the hereditary list for the emperorship. Thankfully, new heirs have directed that headache elsewhere, leaving Ivan to enjoy his life on Komarr, far from the Byzantine court politics of his home system. But when an old friend in Barrayaran intelligence asks Ivan to protect an attractive young woman who may be on the hit list of a criminal syndicate, his chivalrous nature takes over. It seems danger and adventure have once more found Captain Vorpatril.

Barbara M. Sullivan says:"We are finally allowed to see Ivan without Miles."

Falling Free

Leo Graf was just your average highly efficient engineer: mind your own business, fix what's wrong, and move on to the next job. But all that changed on his assignment to the Cay Habitat, where a group of humanoids had been secretly, commercially bioengineered for working in free fall. Could he just stand there and allow the exploitation of hundreds of helpless children merely to enhance the bottom line of a heartless mega-corporation?

Paladin of Souls

Three years have passed since the widowed Dowager Royina Ista found release from the curse of madness that kept her imprisoned in her family's castle of Valenda. Her newfound freedom is costly, bittersweet with memories, regrets, and guilty secrets, for she knows the truth of what brought her land to the brink of destruction. And now the road, escape, beckons...A simple pilgrimage, perhaps. Quite fitting for the Dowager Royina of Chalion.

The Curse of Chalion

Amidst the decaying splendor and poisonous intrigue of Chalion's ancient capital, Cazaril is forced to confront not only powerful enemies but also the malignant curse that clings to the royal household, trapping him, flesh and soul, in a maze of demonic paradox, damnation, and death for as long as he dares walk the five-fold pathway of the gods.

The Hallowed Hunt

The half-mad Prince Boleso has been slain by a noblewoman he had intended to defile. It falls to Lord Ingrey kin Wilfcliff to transport the prince to his burial place and to bring the accused killer, Lady Ijada, to judgment. The road he travels with his burden and his prisoner is fraught with danger. But in the midst of political chaos, magic has the fiercer hold on Ingrey's destiny, and Ijada herself may turn out to be the only one he dares trust.

Way Station

In this Hugo Award-winning classic, Enoch Wallace is an ageless hermit, striding across his untended farm as he had done for over a century, still carrying the gun with which he had served in the Civil War. But what his neighbors must never know is that, inside his unchanging house, he meets with a host of unimaginable friends from the farthest stars.

The Sharing Knife, Volume 1: Beguilement

Young, pregnant Fawn Bluefield has just fled her family's farm to the city of Glassforge, where she encounters a patrol of the enigmatic soldier-sorcerers known as Lakewalkers. Fawn has heard stories about the Lakewalkers, who are wandering necromancers with no permanent homes and no possessions except the clothes they wear and the mysterious knives they carry. What she does not know is that the Lakewalkers are engaged in a perilous campaign against inhuman and immortal magical entities known as "malices".

Dragon in Exile: Liaden Universe: Arc of the Covenants, Book 1

Star-trading Clan Korval - known to Terrans as the Tree-and-Dragon Family and to the locals simply as the Dragon - has been convicted of crimes against the homeworld. No matter that one of the "crimes" consisted of saving the elitist planet of Liad from very real internal threats, the Council of Clans wanted Korval heads to roll. Unfortunately for the council, the Dragon's allies conspired to impose a milder punishment for saving the world: banishment rather than execution.

The Sharing Knife, Volume 2: Legacy

Filled with magic, heroism, and all-too-human characters, Bujold's Sharing Knife saga is both a gripping adventure and a poignant romance. In this second volume, Fawn Bluefield, the clever farm girl, and Dag Redwing Hickory, the seasoned Lakewalker soldier-sorcerer, are newly married. Their arrival at Dag's home on Hickory Lake Camp is met with prejudice and suspicion, as many in the camp deny the literal bond between Dag and Fawn, woven in blood in the Lakewalker magical way.

The Sharing Knife, Vol. 4: Horizon

In a world where malices, remnants of ancient magic, can erupt with life-destroying power, only the soldier-sorcerer Lakewalkers have mastered the ability to kill them. But Lakewalkers keep their uncanny secrets - and themselves - from the farmers they protect. So when patroller Dag rescued farm girl Fawn, neither expected to fall in love, marry, and defy both their kin to seek new solutions to the split between their peoples.

Publisher's Summary

Miles Vorkosigan graduates from the Barrayaran Military Academy with high expectations of ship command, but is disappointed with an assignment as meteorologist to Lazkowski Base, an arctic training camp. His tenure in the windy, snow-covered north is cut short when Miles narrowly averts a massacre between the trigger-happy base commander and mutinous recruits. After a brief stay under 'house arrest', Miles is re-assigned to investigate a suspicious military build-up near a wormhole nexus. Reviving his undercover persona as mercenary Admiral Miles Naismith, his routine information-gathering duty expands to a rescue mission when the Emperor of Barrayar disappears during a political conference on a nearby space station. Miles must use his considerable negotiating skills to avoid a showdown between competing powers for control of the wormhole, find the Emperor, and watch his back for the arctic base commander seeking bloody vengeance.

Finally some of her Miles series is making it onto audio books. I read this entire series and I loved it. The Vor Game is a great example of the series and is a great moving book about honour and commitments. I recomend any of her books in this series, I have never been disappointed by any of them. Her characters fly from the pages, real and complete, pulling you along through the story as you want to see if Miles manages to succeed, or not. You never quite know for sure what the outcome will be, since he doesn't always get everything he hoped for.

This was the first book I have listened to by this author and I was pleasently surprised. I knew she was an award winning author but was a little afraid to read any of her stuff thinking it is more in the fantasy genre. I do love a good space opera and this was a excellent one I loved the characters and the wit that the lead character has. I also like the reader who I have listened to on other books he brings just the right cadence to his read. I highly recommend this book and hope more of this seris is put out for us to listen to.

Lois McMaster Bujold is a great author and this book, like all those in the Vorkosigan series, is packed with wonderful characterizations and snappy writing - very readable/listenable and lots of fun. However, this book is several books into the series, so if you are not familiar with the character and backgrounds you might have tough time figuring out how you got here. Unfortunately this is currently the only Vorkosigan book Audible carries, so I suggest you hit the library or bookstore and pick up the first books in the series before listening. Start with 'Cordelia's Honor' and then 'Young Miles' and you'll be up to speed (and hooked!).

Finally an action science fiction book that uses a realistic and fallible hero. I love the dry humour, and the fact that I have to think rather than just listen. A totally engaging storyline, supported by 3 dimensional characters and enough edge of the seat action to keep an old soldier interested. Lets hope you get the rest of the series on Audible in the near future, as this one has really whetted my appetitie. PS. Very happy with your product and service. You guys rock.

I'm having a great time with the Miles Vorkosigan books...I must be, I'm gonna end up spending my yearly audio budget on 'em. Plots are pretty involved but not tough to follow, she sprinkles humor all through them, characters likable & believable. The narrator is excellent; pleasant voice, good pacing, just understated enough that he doesn't detract from the book, animated enough that he helps it come alive. (His reading of Donald E Westlake's Dortmunder books are priceless).

This is not the first time I've been priviledged to listen to one of Bujold's wonderful Miles Vorkosigan books on a long car trip; Bujold has always been my author of choice for my wife to read aloud to me while I drive.

With Gardner narrating, I was delighted to listen once again to the wry wit and snappy pacing in "The Vor Game". It's more lighthearted and adventurous than Bujold's fantasy novels, yet it continues to display the rich characterization one can reliably expect from this outstanding author.

Bujold is a multifacited writer and gets 'it' right. As another reviewer pointed out, 'The Vor Game' is fourth or fifth in the series and is preceeded by 'The Warrior's Apprentice' which is now available from audble. Listen to that first and then come back to this one. In 'The Vor Game', Miles is in his early twenties and is more mature and less frenetic. He's coming to understand that actions have consequences and some of his snap decisions in the earlier book come back to haunt him - just like in real life for the rest of us. I agree that there is some confuson when Miles shifts between personas. The personas are developed in the earlier book and mature in this one. In this book Bujold matures her concept of personal and individual honor which extends into the rest of her work.

I would reccommend reading "The Warrior's Apprentice" before this. It is easier to appreciate the characters if you know their history.
This book was well written and the audiobook was well performed. This won't blow your socks off, but it is a solid SciFi adventure and mystery with a captivating but not overwhelming political background.

I really liked this book. Unlike many books, this is tightly plotted so even though it is a space action book it does not have any glaring holes in it. The other thing I liked about it was that it was character driven and not driven by endless action sequences. The mental gymnastics keep my attention throughout.

I'd like to see more of these books as it is apparently part of a much longer series.

This is a light read, nothing too complicated but it's a lot of fun. The character is interesting but rather generic, except for a physical deformity which doesn't affect the story much, though it did shape his character. The buildup to the ending was well done. The conclusion was grand.

Two things that bothered me... first, it was a sequel and I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the previous book. The events in this book didn't require the sequel but there were characters and relationships already established. Unfortunately I couldn't get the prequel on audio. Second, apparently our hero was a grand savior in the prequel, but he doesn't get much respect for it in this book. Either I'm missing something explained in that book, or the author broke logic a little to make this book work.

Anyhow, I enjoyed the story and there were several scenes that had me chuckling out loud. I'll be looking for other books in this series to make it to Audible.

If you are already familiar with the novel, then you will find an enjoyable audiobook version. It is well read by a single reader, with good expression. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing my favorite passages, although at points I did wish for more differentiation between the characters. If you are unfamiliar with Bujold's work, the Vorkosigan series is a glorious space opera with great characterization and it is quite funny, poignant and very well written. This is the second Miles Vorkosigan novel so if you are new to the series you may want to pick up 'the Warrior's Apprentice' first, which details the earlier events.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Jane

Sheffield, United Kingdom

4/24/07

Overall

"Wonderful"

Another wonderful reading of another wonderful novel. I really like Grove Gardner's readings of the Vorkosigan novels - he gets the humour without reading them as obviously 'funny'. And Miles is such a superb character who develops so well over the series. One to savour.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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